The Lacombe Community Watch Association wants to inform vulnerable members of the community about all the latest telephone frauds and phone scams out there.

The group will be hosting a presentation Wednesday evening at the LMC, hosted by Owl Wise, which is a government program aimed at educating seniors about fraud prevention.

Vice President of the Association Thelma Ten Hove says there are a number of scams which target seniors because scammers tend to pray on their emotions, as well as take advantage of any computer and internet shortcomings they may have.

“Of course there’s the health and medical scams, and the ones that probably some have received already is there a member of their family is in the hospital and they need money, but don’t tell anybody.”

 Ten Hove says scams aimed at seniors often move quickly and can try to confuse them into giving out important information or sending money by pretending to be a relative who is in danger. A common one is a senior receives a call from a “grandchild” who is in a foreign country and needs help, usually in the form of a money transfer that needs to be done quickly, in order to try and get the senior caught up in the moment and sending money before they can verify it’s actually their grandchild.

“And they play on their sensitivity right? Of course, everybody would think that you would want to help, so this something that they are easily caught by.”

The computer and telephone scam presentation is happening tonight, Wednesday, June 19th, from 7-9pm in the Servus Room at the Lacombe Memorial Centre.

It is a free event but donations are appreciated. You can also sign up to be a member of the Lacombe Community Watch Association or one of their affiliated groups.